Tuesday, September 10, 2013

We had an absolutely rocking July this year when
we inducted new college graduates (NCGs) into the MySQL team at Oracle,
Bangalore.

There were fun themes and games that went
hand-in-hand with the training program bringing about a vibrant atmosphere
that gave the NCGs a chance to prove that they are indeed a great addition to this high energy
MySQL team here in Bangalore :).

The fun part of the induction spanned five
Tuesdays and culminated with the grand finale in which we were bowled over by some
brilliant performances by the NCGs. What I loved about these Tuesdays was that it jump started the induction programme bringing about
some great team building and a very informal introduction to our MySQL team.

On the first Tuesday, the NCGs who were expecting
a conventional welcome party were in for a surprise as they were asked to put
up an impromptu talent show. After the initial inhibitions and reluctance, they
came out with an entertaining show that included rounds of songs, dances, an
artistic sketch and even enactment of scenes from Bollywood movies. We also had
a dress code: wrap-around skirts for women and shorts for the men. While some
folks shied away from the dress code, many enthusiastic members including MySQL
India Director, Sanjay, came dressed for the occasion.

The remaining Tuesdays made for very interesting
dress themes such as color-coordinated theme, masquerade party, and scarf/hat
for women and tie/cap for men. The MySQL team was split into six groups, each
comprising of an equal number of new recruits and existing members that were
pitted against each other. We played games like "Whose Line Is It Anyway," "Human
Knot," "Guess Who,"
and more. This brought in some good natured rivalry and competition between the
teams that served as a great ice-breaker.

The final Tuesday was marked by an Indian
traditional attire theme that was accompanied by a pizza party and a super show
by the NCGs as they gyrated to a medley of Bollywood songs.

Apart from the fun side, the
NCGs also went through the MySQL training boot camp where they were trained on
the product, tools and everything else required for excelling in MySQL. Some of
the topics covered were MySQL overview, introduction to different modules in
MySQL server, storage engines, connectors, test tools like MySQL-Test-Run and
Random Query Generator, Configuration Management Tool - Bazaar, MySQL processes,
open source etiquette, and more. Trainings were supported by an assignment to
ensure that all the concepts were well understood. They were also given some projects
that helped them brush up some of the skills most required for
the job at MySQL.

It's been two months since the induction is over, but the fun and
learning never ends at MySQL :). I think that it's an amazing opportunity to
start a career in software engineering with such an awesome product and a
wonderful team like the one we have here at Bangalore.

Signing off by wishing all
the new recruits a long and bright future with MySQL!

As always, do post your
comments, thoughts, recollections...I'd love to hear from you :)